. >> reporter: when we first met stephen browning in 2003, he was a can-do american, freshly arrived to help rebuild iraq, as part of the pentagon's temporary government. >> i personally believe that there is no mission in the world more important than the mission that we are doing right here in this country today. >> reporter: today, he's a father of two, living outside of denver, and his assessment of the war now genuinely surprised me. you don't think it was worth it? >> i don't. we'll see. maybe iraq will be a shining star of democracy in the middle east. i just don't see it happening. >> reporter: this boy appeared in an abc news story in 2007. at age 12, he was working in a mechanic's shop because his father, the bredwinner, had died during the invasion. "i dream," he told us, "of going back to school." but three years later, we found him, still at work. i met this shia sheikh in 2003 when he was a serious 29-year-old. he is now a militia leader who is still anti-american that our local staff said interviewing him would be, quote, like throwing yourself into the abyss. perhaps